1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 22, there has been proposed a male connector 901 including a housing 911 having a flat plate shape, a plurality of contact pads 951 provided on one surface of the housing 911, a protruding terminal 953 protruding from a surface of each contact pad 951, a plurality of connection pads (not shown) provided on the other surface of the housing 911, and a conductor trace (not shown) that electrically connects each connection pad and each contact pad 951 (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2012-226973). As shown in FIG. 23, the male connector 901 and a female connector 9101 form a module socket. The module socket is used so as to mount a module 991, such as a camera module, on a small-sized electronic device, such as a cellular phone.
The housing 911 has a substantially rectangular shape, and has four corners each formed with a cutout 913. A lower surface of the module 991 has protruding legs 993 formed at four corners thereof, which can be fitted in the cutouts 913 of the housing 911, respectively.
When the male connector 901 is mounted on the lower surface of the module 991, the protruding legs 993 of the module 991 and the cutouts 913 of the housing 911 are fitted to each other, respectively. As a result, the male connector 901 is positioned with respect to the module 991. The connection pads of the male connector 901 are soldered to connection pads (not shown) formed on the lower surface of the module 991, respectively. Thus, the male connector 901 is mechanically and electrically connected to the module 991.
After the male connector 901 has been connected to the module 991, it is impossible to visually check the state of connection between the connection pads of the male connector 901 and the connection pads of the module 991, from the outside.
Therefore, to determine whether or not the connection pads of the male connector 901 and the connection pads of the module 991 are properly connected to each other, it is necessary to use e.g. an expensive X-ray nondestructive inspection system, which is one of factors increasing the inspection cost of the male connector 901.